Sukiyaki Western Django Posters

These posters for the Japanese genre bender Sukiyaki Western Django are similar to the poster for OneChanbara: They both are for Japanese movies and they both fail to show a bikini clad cowgirl using a samurai sword to slash zombies. Oh, why must you mock me this way Japan? I’m starting to think I’ll never get my cowgirl slashing zombies poster.

There are several things about the posters that I feel like mentioning. First, they are very different from the original Japanese posters. As you can see below, those mostly went for a much more typical old time western look, with some oriental elements thrown in. The new posters, which were created for western releases, go for a much more stylish and modern look, using all that white flame/snow/thingy to create an effect that can only be described as rad. Yes, I said rad. The western elements are still there, in the clothes of the characters especially, but they are much more subdued.

The second thing is that Tarantino (as in Quentin) gets top billing, and his mug even makes an appearance in the background of the poster above. Now, Tarantino is only on the film for a little bit, but I do understand that he is, as far as western audiences are concerned, probably the most well known name from the cast. And the bit role that he plays in the movie is one reason why people might want to see the film, and in fact it has received a far amount of attention from the English language media. So I totally understand the choice of featuring him on the poster. At the same time I’m glad they didn’t feel the need to screw up with the design in other to make QT’s presence more obvious.

Although a poster like the one above but featuring only QT looking fierce and holding a gun might have been funny. It would be the odd duckling of the set tough.

And the last thing is that I’m surprised director Takashi Miike doesn’t get more of a shout out in the posters. This is obviously a niche movie, and I imagine that the niche interested in it is likely to be somewhat aware of Miike, or at least aware of his name.

But that is too much talking. Now let’s just stare at the things some more.